MANILA (LiCAS News): In a letter dated August 14, the Department of Budget and Management [DBM] told the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines [CBCP] that it has “already taken steps to address the items enumerated” in the bishops’ recent call to action on the national crisis in child nutrition and education.
DBM undersecretary, Margaux Salcedo, said more than a billion pesos [about US$17 million] was released in April to establish Child Development Centres in 328 local government units.
“As of June 2025, 182 National Child Development Centres have already been built,” she said in an interview on August 16.
Salcedo explained that the project prioritises low-income municipalities identified by the Department of Education in line with the findings of a congressional commission on education reform.
The DBM also highlighted measures to fight stunting and under-nutrition, a problem affecting more than a quarter of Filipino children under five.
The 2026 national budget increases funding for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Supplementary Feeding Program by 18 per cent to 6.1 billion pesos.
…[the Philippines faces a deepening education crisis] rooted in severe stunting and malnutrition, low participation in child care and development, and the high number of children who are functionally illiterate…
At the same time, the country’s education department will receive 11.8 billion pesos for its School-Based Feeding Programme, which will provide meals for over three million primary school pupils.
To strengthen accountability, the DBM launched a new Child Budget and Expenditure Tagging and Tracking tool, developed with UNICEF and the European Union.
According to Salcedo, the system “will also strengthen and harmonise existing efforts and investments for children, establishing a cohesive, efficient, transparent, and sustained mechanism for child-responsive public financing.”
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Looking ahead, the DBM announced that the education sector will receive a record 1.224 trillion pesos [around US$21 billion] in 2026.
Salcedo said this level of funding “will now meet the UNESCO Education 2030 Framework for Action recommended education spending of 4.0 to 6.0 per cent of Gross Domestic Product [GDP],” and falls within the global benchmark of allocating 15 to 20 per cent of total government expenditure to education.
They pointed out that only a quarter of Filipino children between six to 12 months meet the recommended energy intake, with many lacking protein and healthy fats needed for growth
Salcedo said that the DBM shares the urgency conveyed in the bishops’ pastoral letter and is working to ensure full support for implementing agencies like the Department of Education to “fix the foundations” of the country’s struggling education system.
The DBM’s assurance followed the release of a pastoral statement by the bishops after their 130th plenary assembly in Anda, Bohol, held from June 30 to July 7.
In their letter titled, Call to Immediate Action: Responding to the Crisis in Nutrition and Early Childhood Development, the CBCP warned that the Philippines faces a deepening education crisis “rooted in severe stunting and malnutrition, low participation in child care and development, and the high number of children who are functionally illiterate.”
The bishops cited findings from the Second Congressional Commission on Education [EDCOM II], which reported that 26.7 per cent of Filipino children under five are stunted—a rate higher than the global average of 22.3 per cent—and that progress has remained stagnant since 2000.
They pointed out that only a quarter of Filipino children between six to 12 months meet the recommended energy intake, with many lacking protein and healthy fats needed for growth.
To delay, ignore, or fail to respond to the basic needs of our children is to delay the progress of our nation’s future
Cardinal David
Participation in early childhood care remains alarmingly low, with just 21 per cent of children aged three to four engaged in early learning, and even fewer among those aged zero to two.
The bishops also noted that 5,800 barangays [villages] nationwide still lack child development centres, despite legislation mandating their existence since 1990.
“These consequences are alarming,” the bishops wrote, noting that nearly half of Grade 1 to 3 students are not prepared for their grade level, 80 per cent of Grade 3 students struggle with basic mathematics, and 30 per cent are not functionally literate.
The letter called on the government “to take immediate action to prioritise and fully fund programmes that improve the nutrition of pregnant women and children aged 0–4 … expand access to early childhood education … and immediately invest in establishing child development centres and early learning opportunities in every barangay, prioritising municipalities with low-income communities.”
Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David, president of the CBCP, signed the statement, stressing that caring for children is both a moral duty and a national imperative.
“To delay, ignore, or fail to respond to the basic needs of our children is to delay the progress of our nation’s future,” he wrote.
